. The story of American heroism; thrilling narratives of personal adventures during the great Civil war, as told by the medal winners and roll of honor men . s been performed under the eye ofNapoleon. It was unfortunate that our chiefs didnot possess the power to promote to any grade aman from the ranks for acts of exceptional biaveryand good conduct—West Point and red tape did notpermit this. Thei-e was many an able and gallantprivate in the ranks who could have exchangedplaces with his officers to the great advantageof the service, and a poor, incompetent __ ^officer Tnight have made a very
. The story of American heroism; thrilling narratives of personal adventures during the great Civil war, as told by the medal winners and roll of honor men . s been performed under the eye ofNapoleon. It was unfortunate that our chiefs didnot possess the power to promote to any grade aman from the ranks for acts of exceptional biaveryand good conduct—West Point and red tape did notpermit this. Thei-e was many an able and gallantprivate in the ranks who could have exchangedplaces with his officers to the great advantageof the service, and a poor, incompetent __ ^officer Tnight have made a very good pri- *vate. But the discussion of these questionsis not germane to the matter my opinion wasasked on, whether I knew of any men whose -names were worthy to be placed on the Con-federate Roll of Honor. In the official reports of our officers, manymen, both subordinate officers and privates, received high and deserved com-mendation for gallant services, and doubtless the names of many of theseare on that honorable roll. Itut there was one class of our men. whose services,though of vital importance to the army, have had no official recognition, or. General Wade Hampton. 606 THE STORY OF certainly nonesuch as they deserve, and these were our scouts. Every com-manding officer had a body of picked men for this important and perilousservice. Most of their time was spent within the lines of the enemy, theycarried their lives in their hands, they often had desperate encounters withthe enemy, and on their reports the movements of the army depended in agreat measure. It is of these men I propose to speak, and their services willbe better understood and appreciated by my citing exploits of some of them. As my service was in the Army of Northern Virginia during the war, Ican speak only of the scouts of that army, though throughout the entireservice there were men detailed for this important duty who were quite ascompetent and worthy as their fellow soldiers in any other command. Buta
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